EVERETT — A Florida man would have done well to remember the adage “30 days has September, April, June and November.”
When he tried to buy four iPhones worth $2,600 the other day, he handed a Verizon clerk his photo identification, a driver’s license. The clerk tried to verify the man’s ID and grew suspicious. The man left the store without his license.
Lynnwood police officer Alan Correa took a look at the identification.
“I could see that the birthdate was listed as 9/31/1989,” he wrote in a probable cause statement for the man’s arrest. “A check on the license through (dispatchers) showed it to not be valid.”
The officer also wrote in his report that he knew September has 30 days — not 31.
The man, 20, ended up returning to the store to try to retrieve his driver’s license. Correa soon caught up with him when he tried to drive off.
The suspect allegedly gave Correa a phony name and refused to give him his real name when he was confronted with the lie.
During booking at the Lynnwood Jail, an officer found the suspect in possession of six fake Florida driver’s licenses and seven credit cards.
Each credit card matched one of the phony licenses, Correa wrote.
The suspect later was booked into the Snohomish County Jail on seven counts of identity theft.
Lynnwood police Sgt. Sean Doty said Correa “is a seasoned veteran with our department and it’s not surprising he noticed the impossible birthdate on the fake out-of-state driver’s license presented by the suspect.”
Doty also credited the staff at the Verizon store at Alderwood mall for trying to verify the validity of the driver’s license
“It appears there may be multiple potential victims in this case based on the additional fake identifications and credit cards found on the suspect at the time of arrest,” Doty said.
Eric Stevick: 425-339-3446, stevick@heraldnet.com.
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